Contents of the READ.ME file

ADIPLOT

A Shareware Printer/Plotter Driver for AutoCad 2.18 or Higher

BY J. R. Applegate P. O. Box 33492 Northglenn, CO 80233

With AutoCad vs. 2 and above AutoDesk has included printer drivers for a verylimited set of printers. Unfortunately these drivers provide far lessresolution than the capability of most dot matrix printers. Furthermore, inthe case of the Epson driver, only the FX series printers are driven. ButAutoDesk has provided a way to develop your own device drivers through theirADI device driver support kit. It is the information in that kit and theADI plot device driver provided with vs. 2.18 and higher that allowed thedevelopment of ADIPLOT.

ADIPLOT is a series of programs for various printers that read an ADI plot fileproduced by AutoCad and generate a near plotter quality output on a dot matrixprinter. Currently only Epson and Okidata printers are supported, but theprogram has been tested on Epson MX, FX, and LX printers as well as the OkidataML92A. The plots produced are of a far greater quality than those producedby AutoCad's printer drivers. This is a result of using a plotter driver(PLGEN.DRV) to generate the vectors and then rasterizing the plot external toAutoCad, where far more memory is available for the printer bitmap.

To use ADIPLOT copy the appropriate driver, ADIEPS.EXE (EPSON) or ADIOKI.EXE(OKIDATA) to your ACAD directory. You must then reconfigure AutoCad to use theADI Plotter. On 2.18 and 2.5, this driver is plotter number 2. The config-uration routine will ask several questions. It is important that you selectan ASCII output file (option 0) and a plotting increment of 1000 units/inch.THESE ARE THE ONLY SETTINGS THAT WILL WORK!! When plotting, AutoCad will askyou for a plot file name. I recommend that the extension .PLT be added to thisname. After plotting you must leave AutoCad to physically plot the file. Youcan then run ADIPLOT by typing either ADIEPS or ADIOKI depending on yourprinter type. ADIPLOT will prompt you for the name of the file.

I had originally planned to market this program for $99, since the onlyproduct I have seen that provides the same function is a hardware device pricedat $500! But since I am a semi-starving grad student currently being supportedby my wife I do not have the resources necessary to advertise and market theseprograms. I have long been a proponent of shareware (this file was writtenwith PC-Write 2.71) and sysop of a BBS and so I am willing to buck the recentbad press that shareware has received. Please prove Mr. Button and otherswrong by contributing a contribution of $25 for this product. This will allowyou to receive my enhanced version (quad density on an FX!) as soon as it isavailable as well as the satisfaction of rewarding my efforts and encouragingme to develop new products. The price of PC software is skyrocketing. Onlyby encouraging freeware and shareware developers can you find low costalternatives to this inflationary trend.

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